Menu
Well this video is the first of the new year. People thought that 2020 was bad then 2021 came along and said hold my beer. Of course, this year in the auto industry has been mostly defined by the (insert chip shortage montage) and (recall montage). Everyone’s hope is that the shortages will start to subside this year and that life in the auto industry will start to look a little more normal.
CES 2022 is currently still going on in Las Vegas and GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, gave a virtual keynote speech on Wednesday. Most of the speech was geared mostly at GM moving toward an all EV future and the first glimpses of the 2024 Silverado EV. The Truck will be available in 2 models, a high end retail model called RST First Edition, and a fleet oriented work truck model. They are touting a 400 mile range, 10.2 kW of offboard power to allow you to be able to plug in power tools, laptops and other power hungry devices. The load floor has clearances of up to 10 ft 10 inches with their new Multi-Flex tailgate and the folding back seat idea that I know many people loved in the old Chevrolet Avalanches. They are starting to take note of Tesla’s infotainment system and have an available 17inch touchscreen in the dash. Sounds great, but get ready to pick up a second job if you want to be driving the RST First Edition model with an MSRP of $105,000. Yes you heard that right, the RST First Edition costs the same as a small home and you get the added benefit of being the lucky guinea pig for GMs new battery technology. I know what you are thinking, isn’t GM currently going through a $2billion recall on their Bolt batteries that were bursting into flames and burning peoples’ houses down? Yes, but, GM is laying the blame for that catastrophe at LG’s feet and they are using their new Ultium battery platform that is now made in house. The fleet model is listed at $39,900 and the regular RST model is rumored to range from $50,000 – $80,000. These vehicles will not hit the ground until late 2024 though. Let me know what you think of the new design.
GM will also be releasing 2 more EVs with versions of the Blazer and Equinox coming in 2023. Few details are known about these vehicles but Barra hinted at a starting price around $30,000.
GM also announced at CES that their electric cargo vehicle the EV600 is starting to pick up traction with a recent large order from Walmart and FedEx increasing their original order. These vehicles are also on the Ultium battery platform.
All of these new EVs are exciting for a tech nerd like me, but I am very concerned about the capabilities of our power grid to support mass adoption of EVs in such a short time, considering that brownouts and black outs have been in the news regularly in the last few years, usually due to extreme weather conditions. EVs can use high power chargers that require special wiring and take a toll on power consumption and if all US households had one of these chargers and a vehicle to plug into it, I think it would quickly overload the infrastructure we currently have. I imagine we would also need to vastly expand our power generation capabilities which in the short term will undoubtedly lead to the production of power plants that pump pollution out into the atmosphere.
Another problem with EVs is a problem we are just starting to see pop up. What do you do with these batteries when they are no longer holding charges. First thing is that the battery has to be replaced, and if it is out of warranty it can cost $10,000-$20,000 and then what are you supposed to do with the old battery that is full of toxic and corrosive materials? A new material recycling startup company named Battery Resourcers is opening a huge battery recycling facility outside of Atlanta Georgia. This plant is supposed to be capable of processing 30,000 tons of discarded high capacity batteries each year. This will be the largest facility of its kind in the US and if EVs are going to take off like the manufacturers expect, we are going to need many more facilities like this to handle all of the waste.
Recent Articles
